Why Is My Kitchen Spritzer Not Working?

[ChefPaulaB]

I am having trouble's with my kitchen spritzer... I have 2 of them, one for canola oil and one for olive oil. Every time I go to use them lately, I pump it up and spray and it sprays just a tad and then nothing... and this is happening to both of them. They are both less than a year old (probably 1 is about 6 months and the other less than that). I was trying to spray the mini muffin pan last night and I could get one well sprayed then I would have to re-pump. Any thoughts on this? They don't appear to have any build up on them, they aren't too full or underfull... I'm at a loss.. I use them for shows all the time, especially since a lot of my stones aren't quite seasoned enough yet and I have a show on Thursday... HELP!

 

[raebates]

It may be clogged. Try running hot water through the sprayer top. Just take the button off and wash it well. I sometimes use a brush to scrub it a bit.

 

[Nanisu]

You need to clean it--I wash mine with warm, soapy water and dawn dishwashing detergent--and fill it with water as hot as I can stand it--then spritz it through. Then I fill it with hot water and white vinegar (about 1 tablespoon of vinegar and the rest hot water), and spritz it through again--by now it should be a fairly steady stream--if not, repeat the process. The reason it is clogged is because the little "straw" inside gets clogged with oil that has congealed. So the hot water and dawn dishwashing liquid (Dawn cuts the oil) then hot water and vinegar works well. After you get it cleaned, the way to keep it from clogging is to loosen the collar after you are done using it--kind of "burp" it, so to speak, to release the air pressure. What this does is causes the oil that is iniside the tube after you pump it, to drain back down into the bottle, and it won't congeal. Of course, it wouldn't hurt it once in awhile to dump the oil out into a bowl and toss the spritzer in the dishwasher to keep it clean, too. Hope this helps.

 

[chefann]

An addendum to Nancy's post: soak and clean the spritzing mechanism every time you refill the spritzer. That helps keep it in working order.

 

[ChefPaulaB]

Great advice from all! Thank you so much!!!

 

[JAE]

No kidding! I don't have one any more. I like my Bed Bath and Beyond ones. Never had a problem. I don't wash the spritzer, ever. That seems a bit gross, doesn't it? But I've never had an issue with them not working, so I've never thought to wash them. Maybe, I will do that, ASAP.

 

[gingertannery]

Plus.. warm oil is more fluid than cold oil.. maybe heat in a pan of hot water before spritzing. And all the other info too. You should have gotten 2 spritzer heads with each one..maybe??

 

[jrstephens]

I have cleaned mine before and it has helpd but not the ways listed here. I need to try that to get it as good a new again. I have lots of oil build up on the outside of it too.

 

[AngelRyd18]

I just took mine out of the box and after cleaning it, I added oil and went to spray and the spray piece you press down doesn't move. I took it apart to see if there was a piece i forgot to remove, but there isn't. It just wont press down.